Hekry william atwater



Patented Sept. 4, 1883.

WRENCH.

H. w. ATWATER.

(No Model) UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE. I

HENRY WILLIAM ATWATER, or ORANGE, New JERSEY.

SPECIFICATION forming-partpof Letters Patent No. 284,162, dated September 4, 1883.

' Application filed May 24, 1883. (No model.)

3 To all whom/it may concern,-

Be it known thatI, HENRY WILLIAM Acr- WATER, of Orange, in the County of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented an Im- 5 provement in Wrenches, of which the following is a specification.

In Letters Patent No. 206,851, granted tome August 13, 1878, a wrench is shown and described in which there is an eccentric pivoted I to the sliding jaw, and this eccentric has teeth upon its periphery, and is provided with a projection or fingenpiece, so that it can be turned to bringsaid teeth into contact with teeth on the bar-of the fixed jaw, for prevent- 5 I ing the sliding j aw moving backward when the I strain in turning a nut or other article comes upon said sliding j aw'. In using saidwrench I it is necessary, after the sliding jaw has been j adjusted, to turn theeccentric to. bring its zo teeth into contact withthose on the bar of :the fixed jaw, and if the wrench is held so that the eccentric is below the bar, the finger must be kept upon said finger-piece until the strain comes upon the sliding jaw; otherwise the eccentric will drop away from the teeth on f the bar, and the sliding jaw will move back ward when the wrench is turned. I

; To overcome this difficulty is the object of j 1 my present invention, and I employ a spring 3o to act through a lever and keep the teeth of 1 the eccentric incontact with those on the bar of the fixed jaw. The short end of the lever,

against which the spring bears, is in a notch in the periphery of the eccentric, and by pressing upon thelong arm of the lever the eccentric isturned sufiiciently to separate its teeth from those on the bar, and release the sliding jaw.

. In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of 40 my improved wrench with the sliding jaw in section, and Fig. 2is a cross-section at theline v a is the fixedjaw upon the bar I), and c is j ahandle of wood or other material upon a tang or reduced portion of said bar, and held upon it by the nut d. e is a ferrule upon the up handle at its junction with the bar I). These parts may be of any desired size. I The sliding jaw f is made with an openin 5o throughitof a size and shape to allow said jaw to slidefreely upon the bar I), and; said jaw f is recessed to receive the disk or. eccenthose on b; hence the teeth on the eccentric h tric h, lever z, and spring 70. The pivot Z of the disk ,h is eccentric to the periphery of the disk, and in said periphery there area number of fine teeth, corresponding in cut to those at 9 upon the face of the bar b. This disk or eccentric h has also a notch in its periphery, into which'passes the short end of the lever i, pivoted at 2, andagainst the short end of said lever the spring is bears. I The parts are positioned as shown in Fig. 1, so that the spring acts through the lever to keep the .eccentric turned with its teeth in contact with those on the bar I), and when thus in contact the slid- 5 ing jaw can be moved forward toward the fixed jaw, for the spring will yield and allow the teeth on the eccentric to ride over those on the bar; but the sliding jaw cannot be moved backward, because any strain upon the jaw from turning a nut or other article will tend to partially revolve the eccentric h and bring the teeth more firmly into contact with act as pawls against the rack to prevent the 7 5 sliding jaw moving backward, and at the same time the eccentricbecomes a curved wedge to firmly clamp the j aw upon the bar. By pressing upon the long arm of the lever, whichprojects from the case formed by recessing the s slidingjaw, the disk or eccentric his turned to separate its teeth from those on the bar I) and release the sliding jaw. Whenthe finger is removed from said lever, the spring throws the eccentric into contact with the teeth on b.

It will be apparent that the spring might act directly upon the eccentric instead of upon the lever i, said lever operating, as before described, to swing the eccentric away from the bar b when pressed upon by the finger.

I do not claim a toothed eccentric with a projection or thumb-piece, as this has been used in a wrench with a smooth bar. The

teeth on the eccentric, however, are liable to slide, andthe bar to become scored or notched 5 l by the action of the eccentric.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, in a wrench, of the sliding jaw f, the fixed jaw a, and the bar b, said bar I) having teeth along on one of its sides, the eccentric h, having teeth on its periphery corresponding to the teeth on the bar I), the pivot for the eccentric, a spring to move the eccentric and bring its teeth into contact with the teeth on the bar, and alever for mov- Signed by me this 18th day of May, A. D. 10 ing the eccentric in the opposite direction, 1883. c p V substantially as specified.

2. The toothed bar I fixed jaw a, and slid- HENRY WILLIAM ATWATER. ing jaw f, in combination with the toothed and notched eccentric h, the lever 43, with its short Witnesses: end in a notch in said eccentric, and the spring GEO. T. PINOKNEY k, pressing upon the lever, substantially as and WILLIAM G. Mo'rr for the purposes specified. 

